208 TREES OF MINNESOTA. 



bark reddish brown. Sometimes a large tree but very often 

 made up of spreading stems forming a low bushy tree. 



Distribution. Massachusetts to Minnesota and south to 

 Florida and Texas, where it attains its largest size. Gener- 

 ally found along river banks and in moist places. 



Propagation. By seeds, which ripen in June and should 

 be sown at once, making plants eight to ten inches high by 

 autumn. 



Properties of wood. Light, rather hard, strong and close 

 grained. It is light brown with lighter colored sapwood. 

 Specific gravity 0.5762; weight of a cubic foot 35.91 pounds. 



Uses. The River Birch is seldom used as an ornamental 

 tree, although it is very beautiful and does well in any good 

 retentive soil. The wood is used for furniture, cabinet 

 making, wooden shoes, ox yokes and in turnery. 



Betula lutea. Yellow Birch. Gray Birch. 



Leaves ovate or oblong-ovate, wedge-shaped or slightly 

 heart-shaped at the base. Bark of trunk yellowish gray and 

 somewhat silvery, separating into thin layers and hanging 

 loosely coiled up in rolls, giving old trunks a very ragged 

 appearance. Fruiting catkins short, oblong. The inner 

 bark, twigs and leaves spicy, aromatic, similar to winter- 

 green, but much less so than B. lenta. A large and very 

 valuable timber tree. 



Distribution. From Newfoundland to the valley of the 

 Rainy River, and south to North Carolina and Tennessee. 

 In Minnesota common in woods in north half of the state and 

 rare in the western and southwestern portion. 



Propagation. See genus Betula. 



Properties of wood. Heavy, very strong, hard and close 

 grained with a satiny surface that takes a fine polish; it is 

 light brown tinged with red with thin white sapwood. Specific 

 gravity 0.6553; weight of a cubic foot 40.84 pounds. 



Uses. The wood of the Yellow Birch is one of the most 

 valuable of our northern woods and is sometimes termed 

 American Mahogany. It is largely used in the manufacture 

 of fine furniture, hubs of wheels and for small wooden articles 

 such as clothes pins, pill boxes, etc. As fuel it is much 

 superior to Canoe Birch. The bark is used to some extent for 



